When it comes to designing and decorating spaces in the home, it’s important to start with the right principles in mind. Purpose should be what takes priority over all, especially when it comes to rooms as important as the living room. To create a cosy home, the living room shouldn’t just be a space to show off your sense of style, it should be the real heart of the home. A space where everyone can relax, socialise and engage with the family. With that in mind, here are a few tips on how to make your living room the heart of family life.
Keep it simple
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of over-designing a room, especially a room like the living room which is often considered the centrepiece of the home. However, the more you clutter it and fill it with unnecessary things, the harder it is to make it a space where the family can relax and the children can play. Don’t be more concerned with ornaments than how the family uses the space. Keep a relatively minimalistic approach to decoration and make it a more functional space. Ideal Home has storage tips that keeps as much useable space as possible. The walls can still offer plenty of vertical room for wall art, photo galleries, and other opportunities to show off your style.
Mind the gap
If you have a big family, friends that visit often or you have a living room that is just very active, you should design it in a way that ensures you’re not constantly stepping on one another’s toes. Real Simple offers a few great examples of living room layouts that take into account the fact that these rooms are often used as the thoroughfares of the home. Spacing between the furniture that creates as straight a line as possible from one area to the next, or from one room to the next, makes the living room a much more efficient, organised part of the home so you’re not constantly bumping into one another.
A place for everyone
Making sure that the living room offers the right space for everyone to relax is important, too. This is mostly determined by the furniture you use. When you’re choosing the seating, for instance, it’s worth looking at larger options that better suit the shape of the room as shown at Chesterfield Sofa Company. Corner seating can make it easier to fit more of the family into one space. A diversity of seating can help, as well. Your child might be much more inclined to relax in a bean bag chair than up on a leather sofa with you, so why not offer both options and ensure that every member of the family can feel just as comfortable in that shared space?
Get comfortable with it
Getting back to the problem with over designed living rooms is the trouble that it has to be a space that the family can all feel comfortable in. If it’s full of precariously positioned valuables, no-one will be able to relax in there. Instead, look at design options that play into that sense of comfort. The use of warm colours and soft furnishings that characterises the hygge décor style is a perfect fit for many a family home. But it’s not just about sensory comfort, as well. Family photos, wall art and flowers can all create a feeling of familiarity and emotional comfort that’s just as important, as well.
Make it family-friendly
If you have young children, rambunctious teenagers, or are a work-from-home mum who’s office is the sofa, you need to make sure the living room accounts for all of your needs. With children, choosing the right flooring, durable furniture and providing an area for play (complete with toybox) is essential. For teenagers, you might want to make sure that the living room is easier to clean, without too many soft fabrics that they can muck up when they get in from the outdoors. If you work from home, then you may need to consider giving yourself a partitioned space that lets you create a home office that’s free from disturbance. Consider the needs of everyone and make it family friendly so that it can actually survive the demands of daily life.
The home plays an important part in family life, especially in those shared spaces where everyone gets together. Create a living room better suited to the whole family and you’re more likely to enjoy family time with everyone in that one space.
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